How to get your credit report for free, without fear of spam calls!

37xBetter
2 min readJan 16, 2022

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Where to get credit reports, without being spam via 100 of sms and calls for loan??? Also, which one to check?? TransUnion CIBIL, Equifax, Experian and CRIF Highmark etc??

That’s the reply to a tweet that I posted yesterday.

The question exposes the frustration faced by everyone. Sharing our personal details to get credit reports exposes us to spam calls.

But there is a way out!

What is a Credit Report?

Your credit report is a document created by “Credit Bureaus” that compiles information about your borrowings from various financial institutions.

Further, the Credit Bureaus use statistical methods to reduce the information to a numerical score and include the score in the report.

Credit Score

This “Credit Score” represents your “credit behaviour”.

Financial institutions (FIs) use it to assess your risk as a borrower.

FIs charge higher interest rates to those with lower scores. They may even reject loan applications where credit score is below certain thresholds.

FIs have their own criterion for the threshold levels for loan pricing or rejection.

Credit Bureaus (CBs) in India

The Reserve Bank of India has licensed four CBs:

  • CIBIL
  • CRIF High Mark
  • Experian
  • Equifax

How to get your credit score for free, without fearing for spam calls?

The RBI, in a notification dated September 1, 2016, directed CBs to provide one free full credit report per year.

You can get your free credit report from the CBs, avoiding the intermediaries who use your information to spam you.

Unfortunately, no one has any incentive to popularise it.

Intermediaries prefer to collect customer data, while CBs have no interest in popularising a free product.

The Links

A word of caution

  • While you order your free credit report, the CBs try to persuade you to sign up for their other services. Take care to avoid them.
  • Also, avoid consenting to CBs sharing your data with FIs.

This post was created with Typeshare

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37xBetter
37xBetter

Written by 37xBetter

Driven to Learn. Driven to Improve. Driven to Share. Excel and Personal Finance enthusiast.

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